All posts filed under: Wardrobe Editing

A well-worn wardrobe is filled with stories. When we consider our clothes as intentional investments, we clarify new chapters within ourselves and we unearth a better sense of what’s important to us – of exactly what we want in life.

Have you ever tracked your closet? This weekend I audited all of last year’s clothing purchases, and in the process I realized some really interesting things about my shopping habits in the year that followed the Nothing New Challenge. The results make up this cozy lil’ fireside chat and subsequent outfit – what I’m wearing makes up a few of my most worn items of the year. Other favorites included a trusty Patagonia better sweater, Rocksbox jewels, and everything Everlane. To start, I pulled every new piece of clothing into a spreadsheet with rows for each month, as well as columns for product name, cost, retailer; whether the item broke, was returned, sold, or donated; and whether I wore the item every two weeks, once a week, or less than five total times. My least-worn items were from many different retailers but had a few things in common: most were on clearance or were purchased without knowing detailed fit information, while others were for very specific occasions: swimming, fancy parties, running, getting married. Generally speaking, …

September marks three-quarters through my Nothing New project! This week I’m talking shop with BodhiLuxe Magazine about how I’ve nearly gone a year away from retail fashion, along with some tips to jump start your own shopping fast: NOTHING NEW: A YEAR AWAY FROM FASHION RETAIL Via BodhiLuxe: Could you go a full year without buying brand new clothes? Queen of dressing Jess Hunt set herself this very challenge at the start of the year. Read on to find out what sparked the idea, how she’s getting on, and how to get started if you want to give it a go yourself! The ‘nothing new’ idea sprang up this April when I realised I’d already gone since New Year’s Eve without making a single retail clothing purchase… It was tax season, and my finances illustrated just how much of of my annual budget I’d spent on clothes the year before. I’d also been editing my wardrobe and defining my personal style, and I noticed a lot of newer purchases ended up in a donation bin because I was buying …

2018 update: I’ve made big changes to the R&F guide to cleaning out your closet and building a better wardrobe. You can find the new version here! A year after first documenting my wardrobe editing process and lessons learned, I’ve just finished a fresh all-seasons closet clean out. And since making a concerted effort to identify my style, create ‘uniforms’ that work well together for cold weather and the warmer months of spring and summer, and be more honest about so-so purchases and bad shopping habits, every cull goes by a little bit quicker, and letting go and shopping smarter has become second nature. If you’re also whittling, grab a cup of coffee and start your own round of super duper strength, five step wardrobe editing with me?

Last week I thought I was onto something new when I hurriedly cuffed my jeans, accidentally tucking in one side in on the way. This cuff looked très chic, tailored, tapered — as if Emmanuelle Alt had whispered a French It Girl secret to my right leg. I’ve since learned that French cuffing, or peg rolling, has been around at least since the August 1985 issue of Seventeen Magazine. Look at that glorious denim! Now. How to enjoy some free, non-committal tailoring that shows off your shoes: Start with normal, unrolled jeans. Pinch up the inner hem of one leg, lengthwise. Use one hand at the bottom hem of your pants, and the other 3-4″ up the leg. Fold this pinched fabric flat over toward the heel of foot. For straight-leg jeans your pinched foldover should be ~1-2″. Hold the foldover in place as you roll the bottom hem of your pants up once, 1-2″. Roll that bottom fold one more time so the hem is no longer visible. Repeat on other leg. And if …